Trends Reporter

Accused of discrimination ... Rio Tinto workers on individual contracts were given payments up to $120,000 more in redundancy payments.

RIO TINTO is facing a legal challenge over claims it discriminated between union and non-union miners by giving workers on individual contracts up to $120,000 more in redundancy payments when it shut down a coalmine in central Queensland last year.

The dispute marks the latest instalment in a long-running effort by Rio Tinto to curb the influence of unions.

The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union has accused the company of discriminating between union and non-union members as it was preparing to close the Blair Athol coalmine last November. In a statement of claim filed in the New South Wales Federal Court, the CFMEU claims Rio Tinto breached four sections of the Fair Work act by discriminating against members of an industrial association.

The union is seeking penalties against the company and compensation for 29 members made redundant when the Queensland mine closed. It also wants any penalties imposed on Rio to be paid to the CFMEU. The matter is due to be heard in March before Justice Geoffrey Flick.

A spokesman for Rio Tinto said employees at Blair Athol chose to work under the collective agreement or on individual arrangements. ''Employees who chose to be on the collective agreement benefited from a number of secure working conditions and benefits over many years. Redundancy payments were made in accordance with the employee's conditions of employment, which Rio Tinto believes was fair,'' he said.

Rio Tinto decided in 2005 to close the 30-year old Blair Athol coalmine because it was reaching the end of its planned life. Coal for the site was becoming more costly to mine just as global prices for thermal coal were falling. The site employed between 140 and 170 people.